Charlie Shrem Wins His First Battle with Winklevoss Twins, Order to Freeze Assets Lifted

Winklevoss brothers, founder of the Gemini crypto exchange and Bitcoin billionaires have to bite the dust in the recent lawsuit filed by them on Charlie Shrem. Last month, the twin brothers sealed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Winklevoss twins alleged that Shrem took some part of their $250k investment in his BitInstant exchange, to buy 5000 BTC.

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The attachment order granted on Oct. 2 was sealed until the Oct. 26. Herein, the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District allowed freezing Shrem’s assets. However, in a recent announcement last Thursday, federal Judge Jed Rakoff has given the decision in Shrem’s favor while asking to end the freeze on his assets.

Judge Rakoff wrote:

“After careful consideration, the Court denies plaintiff’s motion to confirm the order of attachment and therefore lifts the attachment currently in place, effective immediately.”

He further added:

“An opinion explaining the reasons for this ruling will issue in due course.”

However, the judge didn’t present the timeline on when the opinion shall be further issued.

In their earlier charges, the Winklevoss brothers alleged Shrem of using their investment to spend on his lavish lifestyle. Shrem has previously been held guilty of helping users of the of the dark web marketplace SilkRoad. He has also served a year in prison for helping those users make illegal purchases.

According to the New York Times:

“Either Shrem has been incredibly lucky and successful since leaving prison, or — more likely — he ‘acquired’ his six properties, two Maseratis, two powerboats and other holdings with the appreciated value of the 5,000 Bitcoin he stole.”

Shrem’s Counter to The Charges

Although Shrem faced such severe charges, he pleaded to be not guilty of them. He argued in the court that he never owned those Bitcoins and that they belonged to an unnamed industry member.

According to Bloomberg, lawyer Tyler Meade representing Winklevoss’ side demanded the court to continue the freeze on Shrem’s assets. The lawyer also quoted the figure saying that Shrem possessed $12 in real estate holdings, cryptocurrencies, and other assets.

On the contrary, Shrem’s attorney Brian Klein expressed satisfaction over the judge’s ruling. In an email to CoinDesk, Klein said that the ruling “is an important first step towards [Shrem’s] complete vindication.” “We are very pleased the judge ruled in [Shrem’s] favor, dissolving the $30 million-plus attachment order after he heard extensive argument from both sides earlier today,” he wrote.